Harry Potter and the Duke of Gomeric
by Rue6
Summary: I'm not good at these, just read it.


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Harry Potter and the Duke of Gomeric  
  
Prologue: The Greatest Story Ever Told

Author's Note: Part of this chapter was inspired by/borrowed/shamelessly stolen from a chapter in Pat Conroy's novel _Beach Music_.**  
  
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Molly Weasley called it the greatest story ever told. She shared it with dozens of witches and wizards, young and old, as they traipsed through the Burrow each year in the Spring Tour of historical wizarding homes. Molly would dress up in nineteenth century robes and give the visitors a brief history of her home before she blew their socks off and changed the Spring Tours forever by relating a story that had been passed on from generation to generation of Weasleys.  
  
"Her name was Caitlin Ledare Weasley," Molly would begin, "and she was born in the bedroom where my own children were born nearly one hundred years later. Her beauty was legendary by the time her parents sent her to a finishing school in Hogsmeade. Back then, the Weasley family was one of the wealthiest pureblood families in wizarding England. While attending a ball there, Caitlin first met a presentable young Englishman by the name of Evander Gomeric. One dance with her put this Durmstrang graduate under her spell."  
  
Whenever Molly Weasley would mention the name of Evander Gomeric, a gasp would go up from the assemblage of witches and wizards, who were mostly old and had grown up with their relatives passing down stories of Gomeric's plunder and destruction of wizarding England. Even most of the younger visitors from Hogwarts had to be stunned, who had heard Gomeric's story from Professor Binns. But it was Molly Weasley who told them all a part of the story they would never forget. The story of Caitlin and her suiter belonged to Molly alone, and she loved to tell it.  
  
When Harry Potter was in his seventh year at Hogwarts, Molly Weasley invited Ron and all of his friends to the annual Spring Tour during Easter holidays.  
  
That night, nearly the entire seventh year Gryffindor class approched the Burrow; some with dates and some without. Ron was dating Hermione Granger at the time and Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas brought the Patil Twins. Ron's younger sister Ginny was there with Neville Longbottom. After dating nearly half of the male upper-class population at Hogwarts, Ginny found herself content with Neville. They had been dating almost six months, which was a record for Miss Weasley. Harry had come to the tour without a date. He hadn't dated anyone since Cho Chang in his fifth year and had decided that dating wasn't worth it. For now, at least.  
  
As Molly Weasley began her tale of Caitlin Ledare Weasley, they listened intently. Even Ron and Ginny listened politely even though Harry knew they must have heard this story hundreds of times.  
  
Caitlin had been born during a great snowstorm in January and some of her extraordinary charm was attributed to the four feet of snow that covered the Burrow on the night of her birth.  
  
Making a motion for all of the visitors to follow, Molly led them upstairs to Caitlin's old room, which was now Ginny's and she waited patiently for everyone to settle in before she continued. Hermione had her arm linked through Ron's. She saw Harry watching and blew him an exaggerated kiss that he pretended to catch in midair.  
  
"After their first dance, young Gomeric wrote to Caitlin. He told her that his dance with her had changed his life forever."  
  
"Do I have that same affect on you, Ron?" Harry heard Hemione whisper near him.  
  
"The same," Ron whispered back.  
  
"And you, Harry?" she said winking at him.  
  
"Caitlin," Harry whispered to her, "Oh Caitlin." Hermione laughed. Harry Potter may have been on the Death Eater's most wanted list at the time, but he still had his sense of humor. He decided that if he was going to die soon, he was at least going to be happy around his friends.  
  
"Evander told her that it was the first time in his life that he wished he could stop time and for his dance with her to never end," Molly said, "But he had stiff competition. Every young man in Hogsmeade was mad for our Caitlin.  
  
"But it was Evander who intrigued her, Evander she wrote home about to her parents, who read her letters in this very house."  
  
Parvati Patil raised her hand and Molly said, "Yes, dear do you have a question?"  
  
"Was Evander handsome, Mrs. Weasley?" she asked. "I always heard he was ugly as a baboon's backside."  
  
Everyone laughed.  
  
"He was not considered a handsome man by his contemporaries," Molly said, "but looks aren't everything, Miss Patil. There is a matter of character, ambition, and intelligence.  
  
"Evander kissed Caitlin, at least once, and there is proof of this in a letter that Caitlin sent to her sister. After that kiss, both felt betrothed to each other forever. It was then that Evander asked her to marry him. Let us go down to the living room and I'll tell you what happened."  
  
After Molly led them downstairs Seamus asked, "What happened?"  
  
"On November 15th, 1872 the Minister of Magic put up a warrant for Evander's arrest.  
  
"It transpired that Evander Gomeric secretly practiced dark magic and was one of the dark wizard Grindelwald's followers," Molly finished.  
  
No one was really surprised at this, except Harry who had never heard any of this story before. Everyone already knew that Gomeric was bad news.  
  
"But what about Caitlin, Mrs. Weasley?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Did she still marry Evander?" Dean said.  
  
Molly hesitated. "Evander Octavian Gomeric and Caitlin Ledare Weasley never laid eyes on each other again."  
  
There was an audible gasp and Molly waited a moment before resuming her narrative.  
  
"Caitlin was appalled at the revelation that her fiance was a supporter of Grindelwald. They broke off their engagement and several years passed. Caitlin married a French wizard with an impeccable family line, and they moved to Hogsmeade.  
  
"So as Caitlin faded into her role of wife and mother, Evander was still on the loose. He was still very much a supporter of Grindelwald's. He gathered up followers, rode through the wizarding world and burned down every city that resisted his attack. He moved his men with relentlessness and cunning and wrote his name in fire and blood across the wizarding world.  
  
"Gomeric's name became the vilest two-syllable word in England. Beautiful women with manners of countesses spat in the dirt after pronouncing his name aloud.  
  
"He was leading his men toward Hogsmeade. He was riding toward Caitlin. When Gomeric took Hogsmere in his pillage, it was greatly feared that he would aim his army at Hogsmeade, where Caitlin was living.  
  
"To everyone's great surprise, Gomeric did not attack Hogsmeade. He went on the wreak havoc on the other resisting cities in his path.  
  
"After his surprise move, Gomeric wrote a letter to Caitlin's mother, who still lived in this house. When Grindelwald's followers attacked St. Ottery Catchpole her mother had refused to flee and spent the entire time under their domination. Under Gomeric's orders, they did not burn down the Burrow. This is the letter that Evander Gomeric wrote to Caitlin's mother," she said.  
  
Molly Weasley walked the length of the room as the crowd followed her. She whispered _"Lumos"_ and her wand tip illuminated a handwritten letter framed on the wall.  
  
She read the letter aloud:  
  
  
_Dear Madame Weasley,  
  
By now, you have heard that I am leading my army toward Hogwarts. This war will soon be over. I would like to extend my greetings to your daughter, Caitlin, and to tell her that I still hold her in the highest regard. I have thought of her many times as my army has moved through England and approached that part of the world that Caitlin once made magic for my by her simply being alive.  
  
I would like you to pass a message onto your daughter. Tell Caitlin that I present her the city of Hogsmeade, as a gift.  
  
Very sincerely,  
Evander O. Gomeric  
  
  
_There was a hushed silence that came over the crowd. This was the story that explained why Hogsmeade was the only all-wizard settlement left in England.  
  
But Molly wasn't finished yet.  
  
"When Evander and his army finally took siege of Hogwarts, he and Grindelwald met their downfall in 1945 when the dark wizard Grindelwald was defeated by Albus Dumbledore. After his master's demise, Gomeric disappeared from the wizarding world," she said.  
  
"It is rumored that before he died, Gomeric gathered up all of his wealth and all of the treasure he had stolen and buried it all on an unplottable island somewhere just off of the British Isles."  
  
"Has it ever been found?" Harry asked.  
  
"No," she said. "No one to my knowledge has ever uncovered the treasure of Evander Gomeric. There is a rumor that before he died, he made a map. But no one has ever reported finding it."  
  
As the crowd moved down the steps and away from the house, they discussed Molly Weasley's favorite story. Hermione could not believe that she had not read about Gomeric's connection with Caitlin before in one of her books.  
  
"Harry, dear!" Molly Weasley called out, "you've dropped your wand."  
  
He ran up the stairs to retrieve it and Molly ruffled his hair, which made him feel about ten. He didn't mind, though.  
  
"Evander, Oh Evander!" a girl's voice called out. "We're leaving now."  
  
The voice was exaggerated and aristocratic. Molly Weasley laughed. "He's coming, Caitlin."  
  
Harry ran toward the voice and the outstretched hand and was surprised to see it was Hermione.

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Author's note: I want to thank my homie G dawg Caitlin for beta-reading this and for letting me use her name in this story. Also all of the Aurors at Fan Forum, where I spend some of my time.

The next chapter is already written but it may take me a while to type it. If you would like to beta-read email me.

*Rue*


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